How to PERMANENTLY disable Handsfree Telephony for a bluetooth device in Windows 11?

Question

I need to disable Handsfree Telephony to make my Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones work in MS Teams (as resolved in this thread).

But, the setting keeps being enabled again - possibly during reboot or bluetooth re-connection.

Is there a way to PERMANENTLY disable the setting for this device?

Aside: I'm open to a fix in powershell if anyone knows the API calls for toggling the setting based on BT connection trigger.

Answer 1

Thanks for this @RyokuY! This works also! For those more comfortable with a gui, you can do this with the registry editor too with the same paths as the command prompt. Regedit-> then Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Bluetooth\Audio\Hfp\AudioGateway

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Bluetooth\Audio\Hfp\HandsFree

Set both Enabled = 0

As always, be very careful when modifying the registry (do a backup first if you feel the need)

Answer 2

Hi. I think i found a real "PERMANENT" solution. I had the same issue and it kept resetting my changes after each restart, thus lacking a permanent solution like most of the repliers. I am aware of both methods to disable handsfree audio as in

-disabling from sound settings

-disabling from devices and managers -> device properties -> services

Both of these methods resulted in resetting after each restart, forcing me to re-do it every time, which is a pain in the a.

However i think the solution i found is a more permanent fix. Follow these steps

1- open "Device Manager"

2- scroll down to "System Devices"

3- under that tab find your "device name" followed by "Hands-Free AG". Example "soundcore R50i Hands-Free AG"

4- right click and select "Disable". (Not uninstall or remove, because i suspect it might re-install itself after reconnecting)

5- finally doht be bothered by this ridicule anymore

I believe this is a permanent fix, at least more permanent than other methods. You will see your device + handsfree on other tabs aswell but after disabling from system devices they will not appear above in the sound tabs. For me one of my devices handsfree version disappeared from the system devices tab after i rechecked properties from devices and printers. In there they will show a problem with them (yellow triangle with ! inside) but dont be bothered by that. they will work just fine.

Sorry i cant upload a photo for some reason but i hope i explained it as best as possible and hope it solves everyones issues about this PERMANENTLY.

Finally we can rest i believe.

Answer 3

thank you very much, this solved the problem.

Answer 4

So i did this but now the microphone isn't working anymore?

Answer 5

for those who are experiencing this but not for xm4's, you need to go to device manager -> audio input and outputs -> find the headphone you want to disable and disable the driver there. for me there wasn't one in the control panel method but disabling it here still allows me to hear without facing the issue. hope this helps some :)